Product Reviews

It's rare that we see a bad digital camera from Panasonic. The LS60 displays some compromises that we can forgive at this price: the body is made from plastic and isn't quite as elegant as pricier Lumix models, the 2-inch screen is small by today's standards, and the use of AA batteries (rather than a rechargeable unit) is a bit of a pain, but at least it's easy to locate replacements while you're on holiday.

The things that the LS60 does right are far more noticeable. Speed is excellent: you can take a shot every 1.5 seconds, or 1.7 frames per second in continuous mode. The lens has a standard 3x zoom range and, like all Lumix cameras, includes optical image stabilisation to counteract camera shake. As a result, our shots taken indoors or at dusk were often sharp where

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other cameras' photos were blurred.

The controls are typical for a point-and-shoot camera, with white balance, ISO speed (equivalent to different sensitivities of film) and aspect ratio options in the menu and a range of scene presets on the mode dial. One of these, Intelligent ISO, lets you set a maximum ISO, and the camera varies the actual value within this depending on the available light and movement. It's a smart system that strikes a great balance between user control and point-and-shoot efficiency. The only disappointment is the lack of metering options, which would have helped when shooting against a bright or dark background, and the fact that Intelligent ISO and macro (close-up) aren't available simultaneously.

Our image tests left very little room for criticism, which is an amazing achievement for under £100. Colours were rich and vibrant without losing detail in the brightest or most saturated areas, and the camera took tricky lighting such as the flash and tungsten light in its stride. Detail was among the best we've seen from a 6-megapixel camera, and noise was reasonably controlled at ISO 400, and while higher settings weren't so good, this was countered by the optical image stabilisation and Intelligent ISO to deliver excellent pictures in low light. We failed to find a situation where the LS60's image quality was disappointing.